Day One – Meeting One … Live and Let Live …

It is a bitterly cold night. We are sitting at (-15c) at this hour.

Last night we rang in the year with the Ball Falling in New York City. Old habits die hard. It just wouldn’t be New Years Eve without the ball. Hubby bought a bottle on non-alcohol bubbly that we drank at midnight. The one night of the year where we break out the crystal flutes that we bought for our wedding night.

Today was a sleep in day. And I guess the day began with the usual routine and the prep to get out to the church. I opted to a later call time since it was a holiday and I arrived at the church about a quarter to five. I was still cranking out chairs when our chair arrived, then others followed.

We had a successful business meeting with new members participating in the decision process of the group. And we will be adding a couple of new books to the reading rotation. We’ve only been using the Big Book, 12 and 12 and Living Sober. But for the next three months we have added As Bill Sees It and Coming to Believe.

We sat a FULL compliment of folks. The room was packed with many friends and fellows, very grateful for the meeting. Some of my friends came that don’t usually come to our meeting regularly. So that was good.

We served up lots of goodies along with the regular fare of coffee and cookies. And that went over very well. The chair read from Living Sober and the topic of Live and Let Live.

“An ancient sage said that none of us should criticize another until we have walked a mile in the other person’s boots. This wise advice can give us greater compassion for our fellow human beings. And putting it into practice makes us feel much better than being hung over.”

When I wrote my 2012 reflection I realized that I had not practiced Live and Let Live very well on certain occasions, with certain people. Like another friend of mine from our meeting says that “she has a problem with hitting the publishing button prematurely before considering what she is saying!”

That has happened in the past. And that jumped off the page to me in stark reality when I wrote about it. I lost certain relationships because of this issue and on the other hand, I ended certain relationships because I had to walk away and live and let live. I also heard to night that some folks forget the “Live” portion of the slogan. That we are so consumed with people pleasing or seeking approval that we forget to live in real time.

One real issue that has dogged me forever and a day is that I am still trying to gain approval or really any word from certain people in my life, and I sent a particular Christmas card out knowing how long a reply would take, and no reply came, again another year has gone by with no response. I did not practice live and let live. I acted on a thought – in good faith – that gave no return on the investment. Sad !!!

The good thing tonight was all of my good friends came to the meeting. A good night was had by all. Lots of first sober New Years in the room, and first holiday seasons for some also. And over the last week or two, we served the community and helped keep numbers sober. Lots of gratitude for simple gestures of kindness.

All in all it was a successful holiday season. No real problems and lots of kindness and fellowship with good friends.

One response

Hey Jeremy…. glad to hear you new year went well. I slept through it this year! Burnt out from work and Christmas.

Nice to hear you are maintaining meetings during the holidays. A lot of sobriety dates seem to fall on or around Christmas and New Years…. and many more shortly after. My S-date is in Feb.

From my experience, the most complicating factor of the holidays is expectations. We all on some level want or hope it will be one thing or another. I do my best to reel in my expectations around Christmas time. But obviously my last post indicates I still have some expectations lurking.

But think of how many people lose it completely around Christmas. I mean socially, emotionally, financially. And why? Probably because so many expecations are floating in the air. Our own as well as those inflicted on us by family, culture, retailers, and entertainment.

I like an uncomplicated Christmas. Which is what I had this year. New Year too. A meeting is always a safe place to be.

Am off for a few days up country and plan to take in a meeting a day. Havent done that in a while.

Sunday Prayer

My Side of the Street by Jeremiah Andrews is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada License.
“What we are not make us , what we know not teach us, what we have not give us, in the most precious name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life, who is, who was, and is to come.” Amen…
I took this photo myself on Thanksgiving Day on Mount Royal, here in Montreal. October 2012.

Defeat is Worse than Death, You have to live with Defeat

Click Me – It Will Take You There

The Author of My Side of the Street – Hubby and Me !!!

This is Me …

From High Above Montreal - Welcome to My Side of the Street. Keeping it clean for 13 years.

I am gay, clean and sober and I have been HIV Positive for 20 years now, who knew!!

I hold a B.A. in Religious Studies and I have completed my Certificate in Pastoral Ministry. I have concluded all my studies this Spring 2012. I am now in the next stage in my life.

There is an ABOUT ME up there on the header.

Let me address the sacred and the profane. You can't have one without the other, they are integral parts of life. They make us who we are. Each one of us is a little sinner and a little saint. Hence, the sacred and the profane.

I have been blogging on Word Press for a number of years. I encourage discussion. But let me say that what you think of me is none of my business. If you find you have a problem with what I write, then ask yourself why? We may not agree all the time and that's ok. I am just not going to be bullied again.

Serenity Please.

If you feel the need to write you can find me at [jeremy1350@gmail.com] I read all my mail and I even write back.

Thank you for stopping by.

Adam Wesley Frey

Blog Stats

139,862 hits

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Portraits of Recovery from Alcoholism + Addiction. The Rooms Project is a sober photographer's photo and audio story series on recovering addicts and alcoholics who consider themselves in long-term recovery. The site features portraits of addicts and portraits of alcoholics, along with their clean and sobriety dates, who have all found long-term addiction and alcoholism recovery.